Incubating Inside Xerox Labs: Innovation that Benefits
the Workplace, Healthcare, and the Environment
Xerox and global partners reveal unexpected projects during Inside
Innovation event at PARC
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 29, 2008 – From adding intelligence and
automation to documents to breaking new frontiers in clean tech
and biomedical domains, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) and its global
innovation partners today lifted the curtain on a diverse set of
innovative projects being nurtured in laboratories around the world.
“Our mission is to deliver innovations that solve the problems
our customers face today while creating visionary technologies for
tomorrow and beyond,” said Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox chief technology
officer and president of the Xerox Innovation Group. “Technology
touches our lives in major ways and is core to sustainable global
growth. Scientists and engineers at Xerox are inspired by the significant
impact their work will continue to have on our customers and our
company and on society.”
The 2008 “Inside Innovation at Xerox” held here at the Palo Alto
Research Center featured scientists from research centers in New
York, Toronto, France, Palo Alto and Oregon as well as from partner
labs in Tokyo at Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd., and in Israel from XMPie,
a Xerox software company. They showcased 10 new technologies including:
· Clean Tech. PARC scientists have designed better solar
collectors and an innovative water filtration system as part of
a comprehensive portfolio of clean tech projects that could be as
revolutionary for the environment as PARC’s technologies were for
the workplace.
· Biomedical/Rare Cell Detection. PARC is exploring innovations
in biology and healthcare, including detection of rare cancer cells
and molecular characterization of them to predict effective therapies.
· Greener Plastics. To reduce electronic waste, scientists
from Fuji Xerox have developed a “biomass” plastic partially made
from corn stalks.
· Self-erasing, reusable paper. Xerox scientists have invented
a way to make prints with temporary images, so that the paper can
be used again and again.
· Advances in print heads. Xerox continues to strengthen
its proprietary solid ink technology with improvements to its unique
print head design.
· Intelligent redaction. Xerox and PARC scientists are developing
easier ways to access and sort through content from massive amounts
of documents, for what can or can’t be seen, printed or copied.
· Next generation categorization. Xerox was the first to
create a system to classify digital images. Now it can simultaneously
tag both text and images, for more effective categorization of online
and paper-based documents.
· Seamless documents. At Fuji Xerox’s U.S. lab, scientists
are solving the problem of easy access to documents on small-screen
devices such as cell phones.
· One-to-one communications technology. XMPie has developed
unique technology that marries data and images to create powerful
personalized communications.
· Higher dimensions of documents. Xerox scientists are developing
multi-dimensional technologies, like pop-up photos, that add impact
to print products and production methods.
The projects reflect Xerox’s focus to make documents and document-intensive
processes smarter and easier while leveraging its know-how to make
a difference for its customers and communities.
Last year, Xerox was awarded 584 U.S. utility patents. Together
with Fuji Xerox, Xerox holds about 8,600 active U.S. patents and
continues to invest $1.4 billion a year in research and development.
Delivering Smarter Document Services
Xerox invests a significant portion of research in services for
document-intensive business processes, leveraging Smarter Document
Technologies that enable documents to organize, update, route and
protect themselves. Whether it’s finding the evidence to win a legal
case, getting the information to approve a mortgage, accepting a
student, hiring an employee, or getting the right medicine to the
right patient at the right time, Xerox software tools and services
will swiftly deliver relevant, accurate and augmented information.
At the conference today, Xerox scientists showcased services that
help people find what they are looking for faster and more precisely,
as well as technologies that embed intelligence within the document
itself to help automate many manual tasks and make them more accurate.
Making a Difference in the World
Clean tech research is one of many projects resulting from Xerox’s
collaborative approach to innovation. PARC researchers are applying
their expertise in particle manipulation, honed through years of
manipulating toner particles for Xerox printers, to develop novel
methods for creating a sustainable environment, including less expensive
solar energy, a membrane-free method of purifying water; and surprising
ideas for new fuel sources – fast-growing algae or carbon dioxide
extracted from the atmosphere.
The Fuji Xerox “biomass” plastic, already in use in several FX
products, is a result of an active research and development program
designed to replace plastic parts in multifunction devices and printers
with environmentally friendly materials.
About Xerox and its research partners
Xerox Corporation is the world's leading document management, technology
and services enterprise, providing the industry's broadest portfolio
of color and black-and-white document processing systems and related
supplies, as well as document management consulting and outsourcing
services. This past year Xerox was awarded the National Medal of
Technology, the highest technology award in the United States. |